Alciati, Emblemata, 1542 (A1r)

Chrestian Wechsel's printer's device is here fittingly shown on the title page of his edition of Alciati's Emblemata, which he printed in close conversation with the author. The device is adapted from the emblem "Virtuti Fortuna comes" or "Good fortune attendant on virtue."

Alciati, Emblemata, 1542 (B3v)

The border on this emblem woodblock is broken along the top edge, perhaps because the woodcut was damaged. This emblem served as the basis for the printer's device used in this book and passed down through the Wechel family.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1542 (D5r)

Printed a decade after Alciati's collection of emblems first appeared, this Parisian edition looks very similar to the first: a motto, a picture, and a brief verse. This emblem, "Against Astrologers," warns against the hubris of trying to use the stars to predict the future, unless they fall just as Icarus did for having dared to come too close to God's realm.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1589 (Z5r)

Here we again see the emblem for Alciati's "In astrologos" again with Alciati's Latin text and an illustration of Icarus falling from the heavens. This edition also supplies lengthy commentary from Claude Mignault, also reproduced here.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1589 (Z5v)

This dense block of text is only the first page of commentary accompanying Alciati's emblem of "In astrologos," a sharp contrast to the spareness of the first edition.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1589 (Z6r)

The mise-en-page is cramped in this book---the main text extends right up to the headline, rather than leaving an empty line or two between them.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1589 (Z6v)

The tailpiece here, as it often does, serves both to mark the end of a section of text (the end of an emblem, in this case) and to provide some support for the platen when the sheet is pressed.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1661 (2E1r)

This is the first of five full pages of commentary on Alciati's emblem "In astrologus"---a marked expansion from its first appearance in print in 1531.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1661, (2D8v)

In the 1621, a printer in Padua published an edition of the Emblemata that included commentary from a handful of writers---Claude Mignault, Francisco Sanchez de las Brozas, Laurentius Pignorius, and Federicus Morellus---as well as additional emblems. This 1661 edition is a page-for-page reprint of the earlier Tozzi edition, attesting to the volume's popularity.

Anatomical fugitive sheet (1573)

Anatomical studies of figures with movable flaps, like this one, were often printed as single sheets, and have come to be referred to as "fugitive" sheets since they stand alone outside of a fixed codex. This fugitive sheet shows a female figure with flaps that can be lifted to reveal her organs and skeleton. To see the flaps lifted, follow this shelmark link.